I know many of you have tried to forget it ever happened, but try to recall that horrible Q&A panel on the ABC. Not wanting to leave the issue without some expert comment from the other side, GDAA prez and Tantalus CEO Tom Crago has offered his opinion on the ABC News website. In it, he criticises not only the panel, but the classification system and Michael Atkinson.
While Crago covers ground we’ve talked about before, he still makes a compelling argument, and provides something most of us cannot – the point of view of a developer. From the piece:
As game developers, we are trying to make games that provide entertainment to players of all ages. Video games are not going to turn your children into criminals. They are, in fact, the modern face of the entertainment industry, and something that we in Australia are very good at producing.
The focus of this debate should be upon how the Australian classification system can best give adults the information they need to chose video game content for themselves and their children, without burdening our country with unjustified and draconian censorship to the amusement and pity of the rest of the world.
I think the world alternates between pitying and mocking, but any attention is good attention, right?
Unlike a specialist blog such as Kotaku AU, the ABC site attracts a range of personalities. Even so, most of the comments to the piece are positive, though I couldn’t help but notice this rather, well, insane post:
Who’s the guy in the tiny picture on the left? It’s Tom Crago of course, president of the Game Developers’ Association of Australia and CEO of (the rather successful) Tantalus.
The GDAA has been very active of late, its most recent move an alliance with the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia on the issues of classification and tax consessions.
But that’s not all the organisation has been up to, so I threw a few questions Crago’s way. He was more than happy to fill in the blanks, and on a few occasions, colour the blanks with green and pink highlighter.
I fired a couple of questions at (soon to be former) GDAA CEO Greg Bondar following his resignation from the organisation. Greg kindly provided a prompt reply.
For now, Bondar will be moving into consulting, which he says offers less reliable, but better, pay. It was this opportunity, and a desire to “focus his energies elsewhere”, that prompted Bondar’s decision, though he did acknowledge that recent events played a minor role. He’s also wrapping up a short-term project for a third-party.
While Bondar was unsure of who would replace him as CEO, he did confirm that president Tom Crago will handle his duties in the interim.
Finally, I asked Bondar to reflect on the changes the GDAA underwent and what it achieved during his 18-month stint. Here’s what he had to say:
Greg Bondar has resigned from his position as CEO of the Game Developers Association of Australia, in order to “pursue other opportunities”, according to an email announcement sent out today. Bondar leaves after just 18 months at the organisation.
Bondar’s resignation has come as a surprise to me. I was putting together questions about Game Connect AP after the mini-uproar over speaker fees, which Greg said he’d be keen to answer (though maybe not so much now). To further emphasise the suddenness of his decision, while his last official day as CEO will be July 12, Bondar will be taking vacation leave starting tomorrow.
Regardless, I wish Greg all the best in his future endeavours.
Upon hearing the news that Oz animation studio Animal Logic had opened a gaming studio, Animal Logic Interactive, in Los Angeles, I couldn’t help but be sad. To me it seemed the government’s lack of support for developers had finally manifested itself in a way we could all appreciate.
Jason Hill of Screenplay managed to get in contact with AL’s CEO Zareh Nalbandian to find out exactly what motivated the company to go with LA over Melbourne or Brisbane:
“We felt that there was a rich pool of talent … that we have more options in Los Angeles at this point of time than we have elsewhere.”
Options and talent? Sure, those are important factors, but I find it hard to believe that tax breaks had nothing to do with it.
Tax cuts for Australian game developers. It’s not a big ask, and certainly a justified one; the industry rakes in around $136 million a year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. We know the last federal government had little interest in the idea, and that Labor senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, promised a committee on the matter if his party was elected. It was.
It seems the Game Developers Association of Australia and the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia want to make sure our current government continues to investigate the issue and as such, the two organisations have joined forces.
Said Tom Crago, Tantalus CEO and GDAA president:
“Australian game developers cannot be expected to be internationally competitive when global market conditions are ‘not level’. We owe it to the companies themselves to offer these incentives and we also need to make an investment into Australia’s ‘smart economy’.”
We know how awesome tax rebates have been for game developers in other countries, so there are no problems as far as logic is concerned. The government just needs to get its act together.
Full release after the jump.
Game Connect 08, I Like The Talking: I’m still keeping a close eye on the Game Connect 08 posts. As I said, if I see something the sounds ace, I’ll send you out a little something. We don’t have a lot of developer-orientated events here in Australia, so the biggest one we have needs all the support it can get. Now, let those ideas flow!
Game Connect 08, Looking For More Discussion Question Time: How Can We Make Game Connect 08 Awesome GDAA May Reconsider Speaker Fee For Game Connect 08
Off the back of Tony Albrecht’s blog post on speaker fees for this year’s Game Connect AP conference, a number of the event’s organisers have come forward to address the matter. It seems a little attention has done some good!
Greg Bondar, CEO of the Game Developers Association of Australia (GDAA) and GCAP organiser, posted a comment to the story in an attempt to explain the reasons behind the fees. “Last year we had a number of speaker no-shows and this did no go down well at with delegates not to mention the added cost to the event in finding replacement speakers etc,” said Bondar. “GDAA is a not for profit organisation and I am amazed at those that want something for nothing. Those that are complaining should be supporting us so we can put more back into the industry that we all live for.”
In response, Albrecht posted: “Those that are complaining *are* the ones that are supporting you. Have you considered the cost of creating and giving a presentation? … The people that give these sessions are generally quite senior developers and their time is very valuable to their company.”
I’m not sure if Albrecht’s reply got Bondar thinking, but the next time he commented, his reply was optimistic:
Slowly but surely, the reality of our skewed classification system has been making its way into mainstream media. This story on GTA IV over at The Australian turthers this point.
If there was any game, past, present or future, that shows we’re in dire need of an R18+ rating for video games, it’s GTA IV. Greg Bondar, Chief Executive of the Game Developers Association of Australia, feels it could be the game that pushes us over the line:
“I think the release of GTAIV is a defining moment; it goes to show how far the games industry has come,” Mr Bondar said.
“The ratings system has not kept up.”
A few statistics pulled from studies by Bond University and the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia also appear in the article. Here’s a sample:
According to the research, 62per cent of people said a games classification had no influence on their buying decision, but it also found there was mass confusion about the differences between M and MA15+ ratings, with 32 per cent believing that MA15+ signified a game was meant only for people 18 or older.
32 percent? That’s no small number of confused individuals. Wouldn’t it be easier if we, like, just had an R18+? Of course it would.
Grand Theft raises R rating prospect [The Australian]
The ABS has released hard numbers on the state of our local games industry. Don’t be shy – the data is available to anyone who wants to read it, including tech-savvy amphibians, extra-terrestrials and my grandma.
While there’s a lot of interesting info in the report, I found the opening paragraphs the most poignant:
At end June 2007, there were 45 businesses in Australia involved in the provision of digital game development services. These businesses employed over 1,400 people and generated a total income of $136.9m which represented an average of $3m per business.
Sadly, these numbers contrast poorly with the industry’s expenses:
Total expenses incurred for the same period were $128.5m. Almost two-thirds of this amount was attributable to labour costs ($83.8m).
Two-thirds in labour costs? If this doesn’t stick a massive flashing sign on just how much a 40% tax rebate is needed, I don’t know what will.
Hit the jump for a press release from the Game Developers Association of Australia, which includes a few words from president Tom Crago.
